


Nearly Witches

by BrittanyWilton230



Category: Original Work
Genre: Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-08-10 13:17:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20136076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrittanyWilton230/pseuds/BrittanyWilton230
Summary: Alysanne knew her abilities made her an odd one, her life made her odd to her small town. But soon a man calling himself Death itself arrives into her town, it'll be up to her and the town's other two heroes to stand up to him, figure out what he wants and try to make sure the town didn't fall to him or she fears, this wouldn't be the end to it and he has bigger plans for the country.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Nearly Witches](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9814769) by [multidimensionallifeform](https://archiveofourown.org/users/multidimensionallifeform/pseuds/multidimensionallifeform). 

> This was inspired by Nearly Witches by multidimensionallifeform; the characters are my own.

Alysanne was torn between being high amused, highly frustrated and completely done with the world and her own abilities for lying to her. She had been watching this man scream at the bank’s door for little over an hour now, as soon as the power went out, she knew someone; somewhere would try her patience. Even if she was slightly impressed by the sheer amount of cursing, he had done.

Maybe I can use some of them, Alysanne thought to herself. No, if she dropped one of those words around her father, he would immediately ask who said it and where she had heard it.

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take him to get _into _the bank and how long she was going to have to watch him.

Alysanne was sure she had been watching him for twenty minutes in shunned disbelieve before sending Ghost and Nymeria to see if her Tweedledee came with a Tweedledum; maybe even had his own Alice, Cheshire Cat or a White Rabbit that could never arrive on time. She had yet to hear anyone screaming _I’m Late_, so she doubted it.

But her abilities said something around this area was dangerous. Since she was eight years old, she could tell if there was any danger around her and it had grown in radius as she had grown older to the point, that she was sure it covered her small town.

It was a full moon when she looked at the sky, the criminal hadn’t spotted her from her tree branch across from him. Neither Ghost nor Nymeria had connected her in the last thirty odd minutes, but she had learnt over the years of being partners; that no news was good news or world ending news.

Since her head wasn’t trying to split in half, she would take as the former and continue to watch the bank. If only the cameras were still on, she thought to herself, how amused security would be if they had seen this sad attempt of robbery.

Alysanne knew that she couldn’t do anything to him until he stabbed foot into said bank, she could shoot him with her arrows the moment he walked in and not beforehand. Alysanne would shoot him in a spot that wouldn’t put him on disability, which was harder than most people thought it was and she didn’t think _robbery _was a death sentence.

She really needed different arrows, kind of like Hawkeye from Marvel or Green Arrow from DC, trick arrows she thinks they were called. Luckily, the cops didn’t know who she was nor would they, they never got her arrows as she either collected them were possible and she wore leather gloves when handling them.

No one knew about her second bow and arrow set anyway, they were hidden in a spot that not even her father knew about and Alysanne had grown to love crawl spaces as they allowed to hide so much from her parents over the years.

‘Nymeria? Ghost?’ Alysanne asked reaching her mind out to her partners, her hands tightening around the branch she was sitting on, it wouldn’t do to give herself away because she fall backwards or forwards.

Something was going to happen, since she could still feel a dull pain behind her eyes, and she had a feeling it was going to get worse soon. Did that mean he would get in? Or someone would come along who knew what they were doing?

At least it wasn’t painful to the point where she wanted to cry in a corner. She didn’t know how it was dangerous to scream at a door, unless it fall _on _him and she wasn’t going to stop Lady Irony or Lady Fate from doing what they wanted.

Alysanne didn’t even know if he was breaking the law or not, it was a crime to break in and steal money, dangerous to the town’s finances if that happened.

‘Clear,’ Nymeria told her.

‘Clear on this side,’ Ghost added.

‘Keep an eye out, run around the block,’ Alysanne suggested; for as long as she could remember she had been able to understand and talk to animals; she could hear them in her mind and she could talk to them in the same fashion.

She knew that the town didn’t like her, not as much as they liked Tribe or Captain Justice, might have given her, her alias _Artemis _and _Huntress_; depending on the newspaper or website you read or person you spoke to. Still, they knew she was reliable at night and more active than Tribe or Cap was, had stopped most night-time crime from happening.

She had stopped people from breaking into homes, she had stopped a handful of rapes and she was sure she had stopped a murder. Alysanne was also wary of saying she stopped a spree killer from killing a traveller on her way back from grandmother’s last December, but she didn’t regret shooting that asshole in the back of the neck.

Nor did she think the police found his body; she was sure that a pack of wolves had dragged it away and left it to be covered by Mother Nature herself, after they got what they wanted from it at least and that as far as her thoughts would allow her to go on the topic.

Both abilities meant she had been an odd child. Other children didn’t want to go near her when her mum took her to the park, she was sure that some _parents _didn’t want their children near her, and it wasn’t like she had noticed at the time. It didn’t bother her; she had been too busy listening to the animals around her.

Listening to honeybees and hummingbirds, telling her tales about a patch of flowers and how to find nectar. She never picked any of the flowers, nor did she tell anyone else they were, and she was glad that she didn’t. Children would have pulled them up and they would have stopped talking to her, since she would have been the reason their food source had been destroyed.

‘Still clear,’ Nymeria told her, pulling Alysanne out of her thoughts and when she checked on the criminal’s process; nothing had changed, and he was still beating on the door while swearing his head off.

She couldn’t see his face, since he was wearing a black beanie with holes cut out for his eyes, mouth and nose. Alysanne might have been slightly pity, since she thought she looked better in the colour and it was most of her outfit, like his.

Black ankle boots, black stockings and biker shorts; black long-sleeved shirt with a hood over her head to hide her hair colour, along with a black headband to keep it out of her face. She was glad that all her ballet classes had taught her how to tightly do her hair in a bun.

All in all, she had chosen an outfit that wouldn’t get in the way of her bow or make her stand out in the middle of the night.

‘Ghost?’ Alysanne asked as she watched the would-be criminal drop a hammer on his foot and jump around in a circle. Why did she fee like she was wasting her time?

‘Tribe and Captain Justice are coming your way,’ Ghost warned her, which was a good thing and meant that _they _could deal with him and she could find the reason for her headache. Which might have something to do with the two dark shadows that had just passed her tree before darting back into the forest.

Putting her bow around her shoulder, she slipped down from the tree and made sure she was hidden from the idiot’s sight before trying to spot what had ran past her.

‘Nymeria, Ghost, group up and I’ll meet you,’ Alysanne told them; they weren’t near her as she knew it wasn’t them.

Blinking as water wrapped itself around her wrist, looking behind herself she could see a makeshift bolt and chain keeping her in place. Ghost and Nymeria would stay where they were, until she sounded off her distress signal.

“Tribe,” Alysanne greeted as he walked in front of her, looking her up and done before huffing at her appearance. Captain Justice seemed to be after the thief, since he was screaming and swearing at her. “You’re wearing as much black as I am, only Cap over there is wearing any sort of colour.”

She wasn’t kidding, he had black fingerless gloves, black mask and pants. His shirt might be a dark navy, but she wasn’t going to stare at his torso long enough to figure it out and she had better things to do with her time. Captain Justice on the other hand was wearing a short white dress, red gloves and black biker shorts.

“You’ve arrived with Captain Justice,” Alysanne said as he continued to stare at her. The newspaper had nicknamed both her and Tribe, _he _had got his nickname because his powers reminded everyone of the water tribe from _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ but thought that _Water Tribe _would too long and he wasn’t female, so _Tribe _it was.

Alysanne was slightly tempted to tell him he was wasting his time, but her headache was getting worse.

“And you are?” Tribe asked her.

“People call me _Artemis_,” she told him, her headache was slowly getting worse. She knew that Ghost and Nymeria were now looking for the source, she was just happy that they weren’t going off on their own to do so.

Her parents were smart, they knew how to look after themselves. Alysanne trusted them to do so, to know when to fight or run.

“Huntress,” Tribe growled but let her go.

“That to,” she told him.

‘We have a problem,’ Nymeria told her.

‘What kind of problem?’ Alysanne asked as she kept an eye on Tribe and looked at her dry sleeve and glove.

‘Large wolves,’ Ghost told her.

‘How many?’ Alysanne asked.

‘Would call it a small army,’ Nymeria replied.

‘I’ll be there in a minute,’ Alysanne promised before closing her eyes, warning the forest creatures about the army of wolves near their homes; that she would own anyone who’d help Nymeria and Ghost fight them off.

She knew it was dangerous to owe ‘wild’ animals favours, but she would do anything short of breaking the law and they knew that. This wouldn’t be the first time she made such a plea and she doubted it would be the last.

It had to be done.

“You with me moon eyes?” Tribe asked her.

“If I’m not?” Alysanne asked him.

“You’re not with the thief.”

“Would-be robber’s yours, guy can’t even open the door.”

“How long have you been watching?”

“Give or take about an hour,” Alysanne told him and he just looked at her, she just looked at him before picking an arrow and showing it to him. He would have to understand that her method wasn’t one to take lightly. “I’ll be going then.”

“And where are you going?” Tribe asked.

“Why so interested, you don’t need three people for this one,” she told him before walking away from him. “I’m not need and thus, I would like to get some sleep before the night is over.”

‘Helps here,’ Nymeria told her.

‘It’s gets worse,’ Ghost told her. ‘They’re Direwolves, about the size of small money.’

‘And small brained,’ Nymeria chimed in.

‘Direwolves?’ Alysanne asked them before running off as she turned the corner, Tribe long gone by the time she made it. When she arrived at the scene a block later, it was complete chaos and she looked at the letter next to her.

Everything from bears to birds and mouse were fighting giant black creatures, one crow landed on her shoulder as she quickly went to the letter; she was a long-distance fighter and she was sure she could take _pot shots _from the flat roof of the bakery.

The black creatures had her think she had walked into a dream of hers; now all she needed to complete the confusion was three fire breathing dragons, ones that looked like Dany’s or any creature from that world that better left in a fantasy setting.

Where they couldn’t kill her.

Alysanne would know, she had named her own white and brown wolves after two Direwolves from A Song of Ice and Fire; after her two favourite northerners; Jon Snow and Arya Stark, just like how her mum had named her after Good Queen Alysanne.

By that point in time, Alysanne thinks the name had been mentioned once.

Without think, she took her bow out and shoot a Direwolf through the neck. It would have bitten off Ghost’s tail overwise and she was sure her white wolf was attached to it. Blinking she watched as it disappeared and the crow on her shoulder drove down to her arrow back to her.

‘Thank you,’ she told her.

‘Want to help, don’t want to fight,’ the crow told her.

“Fair enough,” Alysanne said out loud, before picking up her arrow and firing it at another Direwolf, before continuing to fire, being careful not to hit any of her allies. “Just be careful not to get shot, I’d like you to stay alive.”

When she hit another Direwolf in the neck, watching as it too disappear into the shadows. Her quiver only had about twenty arrows in it, she was just lucky a few more crows were happy to help the first one collect them.

Or she would have ran out awhile ago.

“For the love of Apollon and Hermes,” she whispered to herself, as more turned up to the fight as she took another one down.

‘I’ll get their eyes,’ a Hawk told her.

‘You do that,’ she told him before picking up the dropped arrows at her feet, returning them to her quiver before going back to hitting any Direwolf she could safely hit. Now, she was happy that the would-be robber had ran in the _opposite _direction, taking Captain Justice and Tribe with him.

She didn’t know how they deal with this threat; she didn’t know how the police would deal with this threat.

Alysanne didn’t know how long they had been fighting her, but the muscles in her arms didn’t like her right now. If she hadn’t been wearing her leather gloves, she would fear that blood would be going down her fingertips.

All time, she was sore and cranky. And she had a feeling that would need to replace the string on her bow; thankfully, she had a few at home and didn’t need to buy anymore from the nearest major city as her town didn’t _have _stores with bow strings. And she would need to do it before going out again as Artemis.

Something was off about the whole thing and as she went for another arrow, they disappeared as she loaded it onto her bow. It was almost as if they were never there, the crows grabbed the last of her arrows, putting them at her feet before leaving.

“This can’t be right,” she said to herself before picking them up and putting them back into her quiver. It was almost as if they were fighting their own shadows the entire time and now, she knew, they weren’t real.

Someone had created them from the very shadows themselves. They weren’t Direwolves as Nymeria and Ghost had labelled them, they were more likely _Hell Hounds_. Creatures that guarded the underworld for Hades in Greek Mythology.

Now their glowing red eyes made sense to her.

“Artemis, she who runs with animals and in the wild,” a voice said behind her, turning around as she spotted a man looking at her with skin so pale, it was almost grey in colour. “The Huntress and Moon Goddess; such a strong name for such a weak mortal.”

“Who are you?” Alysanne asked as she shoot an arrow at him, he just dodged it and fired a second one, maybe she should start learning how to use a dagger or sword, something that could be used in close quarters.

That would mean she’d also need to require them without tipping anyone off.

“You have hunting dogs, wolves, but you don’t have any silver deer,” he went on as if he didn’t just dodge two of her arrows. “Greek and Roman Gods were almost lost to time itself, if it hadn’t been for the Ottoman Empire and their greed for information.”

“Alysanne?” Nymeria asked.

“You might be a Moon Goddess,” he told her disappearing from her sight, when Alysanne took a step forward and looked around, he grabbed her arm and then grabbed her throat. That was going to bruise in the morning, at least she could still somewhat breath. “But I’m death itself, older than the underworld.”

Alysanne could barely think as she kicked at him, a raven flying over his head as it went to get her two fired arrows. Before a hawk could take his eyes out, he threw her over the building and disappeared before its claws could reach his eyes.

‘I’ve got you,’ a kind voice told her before she was caught in a Mama Bear’s arms; Susan, she had named this bear.

‘Thanks Susan,’ Alysanne told her, as she looked at her dropped arrows. Somehow, none of them were broken and Susan had caught her before she landed on the ground. 

‘That asshole threw you,’ Nymeria told her as she got onto her feet, collecting her arrows and returning them to her quiver. Her motorcycle should be where she left it, on the other side of the bakery.

‘I know,’ Alysanne told her.

‘I have arrows,’ Robin the Raven told her as she dropped them at her feet.

‘Thank you, Robin,’ she told her.

‘What would you do without me?’ Robin asked her.

‘Have to replace my arrows more often,’ Alysanne shot back, before rubbing her neck and wincing, somehow, she was glad it was a weekend. School would have been a pain otherwise, that and she needed to do some laundry.

No bills this week, thankfully.

‘Let’s go home,’ Alysanne told Ghost and Nymeria. ‘After this shit, I need some sleep and pain meds.’

‘Food and water,’ Nymeria told her.

‘Along with a midnight snack,’ she agreed.


	2. Chapter Two

Alysanne knew she had been lucky last night, lucky that Susan had been kind enough to catch her and saved her from hitting the ground. She could have broken her back or neck; she could have died from falling who knew who far he threw her; which was a feat since she was heavier than she looked, and it had surprised people when she rattled off her weight.

She could have died because she didn’t know any defending herself up close and when she was away from Ghost and Nymeria. What surprised her more, was the fact that she never let go of her silver bow; something she got as a joke when people started calling her _Artemis_, the Goddess was known as Artemis of the Silver bow, while her twin brother was known as Apollon of the Golden bow.

Thinking about falling from buildings, it reminded her, wasn’t there a state, New York? Maybe, she wasn’t sure. Where if you jumped off a building that was higher than fifty meters tall, you’d get the death penalty? Wasn’t that pointless? If their goal was to _avoid _people taking their lives, if someone really wanted to die, then all they needed to do was jump from a large building.

If they lived through the fall, they were be in a ton of pain and their limps might give them pain for the rest of their lives; however long they lived until they were given the death plenty and died anyway, unless judges didn’t give that sentence anymore and just them go into a psychiatric hospital instead to get help for their suicidal tendencies. 

No, it was better if she thought about what happened last night. Most of the animal’s that she know owed favours to, left the moment the shadow Hell hounds had left, so she doubted that most of them knew she had been thrown in the first place.

Thank goodness to Susan and her mothering instincts.

She would have to check the bakery again, but Alysanne was sure that all that was left was small spots of blood that had been caused by the hellhounds, she didn’t know how many of them died during that attack because of their injuries. Nature was a cruel mistress, the strong preyed on the weak and injured. 

She had warned them what they were facing, all of them had chosen to that risk; all Alysanne could hope was she never lied to them and they died because they weren’t prepared to go into a battle with a stronger opponent. No animal would go into of her battles without knowing what they were walking into and what risk they were going to take for her.

Her of all people.

‘Alysanne,’ Ghost said before licking her cheek, Nymeria poking her arm with her nose. It was cold against her bare skin; she didn’t want to open her eyes since that meant it was morning and that meant she had to go to school.

Why couldn’t they attack during the school holidays? Or even during the weekend, not Sunday, her joints were sore, and her arm was strained. And now she was thinking about getting thicker gloves, but that would mean she wouldn’t be able to feel the strong under her fingertip and that was something she didn’t want to do.

She felt like she had picked a fight with a brick wall and lost.

‘It’s the weekend,’ Nymeria told her. ‘And it’s lunch, meaning you missed breakfast.’

‘Can’t I just skip?’ Alysanne asked, it wasn’t like anyone knew when she eat or if she ate at all when she thought about it.

‘No,’ Ghost and Nymeria told her, even her own wolves thought lunch was important and it was, since if she missed school because she was sick, then they would ring her father and then he would ring her. He could be in Hermes’ knows what time zone, this was what happened when your only parent was worked in travel job and wanted to avoid you.

And she needed to look at the string on her bow, she needed to keep that thing in good shape, and she didn’t know if it had been bent during her fall from grace. Sighing, she cursed herself and opened her eyes.

‘Isn’t he going to ring today?’ Ghost asked her.

‘If he remembers,’ Alysanne shot back.

Thinking about her father annoyed her a little, since she never knew where he was in the world or if he was safe or not, half the time she didn’t even know if he was alive. He could be in Africa, Europe or Asia for all she knew; a few times he had send her something from Australia and another time from New Zealand.

He worked in airlines for as long as she could remember and had started taking more jobs from her fourteenth birthday; saying that she was now old enough to look after herself and she was mature enough.

Bills were pulled from his account until she turned sixteen; so, for two years all she had to do was remember to buy food and she took a school bus in the morning. He put enough into her bank account each week, to the point that she knew it was just an automatic thing. She was old enough to look after herself, she was a few months away from being legally allowed to vote.

Alysanne had a feeling that he wanted to get away from his dead wife’s copycat, apart her freaky coloured eyes. Groaning, she pushed herself out of bed, knowing that Nymeria or Ghost would just push her out of bed if she stayed in it.

“I hate that asshole already,” Alysanne said as she pulled a loose black shirt over her head, one that she had brought from _Red Bubble_; she thought it was cute since it had three moon goddess on it, she knew Artemis, but not the other two. Along with a pair of sweats, she couldn’t be bothered getting dressed last night after she took her costume off and put it back into its locked box.

Villains were easier to think about than absent fathers.

‘He did throw you off the bakery,’ Ghost reminded her.

‘That’s because I lack any means of close combat,’ Alysanne reminded them as she walked down the stairs.

‘He controls shadows,’ Nymeria chimed in.

‘All the more reason to want him dead,’ Alysanne shot back, before she sighed and looked at the empty house. She was surprised that some people could tell someone lived on the first floor, since besides the kitchen, Alysanne didn’t use any of the rooms.

‘Breakfast?’ Ghost asked her.

“_Death itself_, I’m _older than the underworld_,” Alysanne said as she walked into the kitchen, getting Nymeria and Ghost’s breakfast ready. Chicken drumsticks, chicken liver, and Green Beans, looking at their water bowels, she could see that they had enough water.

They would tell her when it tasted off to them and she’ll change it.

“It was like he watched Hercules and got inspires,” Alysanne told them. “Or watched Disney in general, some of their older villains were pretty scary, not like that sheep lady from Zootopia or whatever that movie was called.”

Jail wasn’t going to hold him for long and she wasn’t sure that the Government was ready to imprison someone who could control shadows like puppets. Create animals and transport, Alysanne had a feeling that they hadn’t seen everything.

_But why death_? Alysanne thought to herself as she gathered things for her own lunch, maybe she’ll make some pasta bake, so that way she didn’t need to cook dinner

‘Fear,’ Nymeria chimed in, Alysanne blinked at their food bowels before picking them up and putting them on the other side of the kitchen’s island.

‘A warning,’ Ghost suggested.

“Either way,” Alysanne told them as she went back to making her own lunch, putting pasta in a pot with water and waiting for it to cook. She would avoid mirrors when she could, she didn’t like looking at her mismatched eyes.

Having one dark brown eye and one forest green eye, meant it was slightly harder to find clothes or make-up that suited her. Prints and brown belts were the most colour in her wardrobe, she was the town’s ‘Goth’, since she never wore anything apart from black.

“It’s horribly cliché, even if it a bit interesting, even _Disney _are moving away from it and sometimes not for the better,” Alysanne admitted, putting her hands on her hip as she looked at her car keys and her shoes in a shoe rack. “Fear me, for even the Lord of the Underworld runs from my presence, and that’s if we know which underworld he’s talking about. Greek, Japan or Norse, to think of a few off the top of my head, all of them have underworld. Even most _African _myths have a story about someone breaking into the underworld, their interesting, but it’s a common theme.”

‘Research?’ Ghost asked her.

“I’m leaning more to Greek or Celtic, I think Celtic Myths have Hellhounds in them,” Alysanne told them. 

‘He does of an army,’ Nymeria reminded them.

‘An army of hellhounds or Direwolves made from shadows,” Alysanne admitted before sighing and looking at a poster from Game of Thrones, along with a map of Westeros next to it. “If I find another wolf pup, I’m naming them Grey Wind or Summer just to annoy someone. I’m not naming a wolf _Lady _or _Shaggy Dog_.”

If there was one trait she shared with her father, it was that neither of them were creature when it came to naming things. Susan got her name because she happened to be reading the Hunger Games at the time.

One day, she wouldn’t be surprised if named a raven _Ronan _or _Blue_, just to have a break from A Song of Fire names. The point was, neither her or her father were good at coming up with names by themselves, if they had to name something it usually came from a book they had read or was currently reading.

Alysanne hoped her partner was better at naming children, or else she felt sorry for them.

“Neither the Police nor the Government are ready to fight animals from Fantasy novels, I can’t face him again without getting some hand-to-hand or dagger training under my belt,” Alysanne told them as she looked at the water. “Heck, even short sword fighting would do at this point.”

‘Or sword fighting,’ Nymeria suggested.

“Too long and their heavy things, would take too long to get the strength to use only one hand with it,” Alysanne told her. “And where did you hear that?”

‘Some groups was talking about it on our afternoon walk,’ Ghost replied.

Alysanne nodded her, she would have to drive them somewhere for their walk. She didn’t think the animals in the forest would be up for having either Ghost or Nymeria in the forest, not so soon after that attack.

‘He’ll attack again,’ Ghost told her.

“Of course, he’ll attack again; he most likely didn’t get what he wanted last night,” Alysanne told them. He was a villain; she didn’t know if he was trying to see if his tactics worked on a smaller town before working his way up to cities and then major cities; like New York or Chicago or Phoenix.

New York was always attacked in Marvel, if he took cues from Disney; that might be the first major city he attacked. And Alysanne knew there was no Iron Man or Captain America to stop him, where were their heroes? She didn’t know, and that was something she didn’t want to think about until she got some food into her stomach.

“You have water, I’m making lunch,” Alysanne told them, she didn’t want to ask this of then, but she knew she had to before someone or something forced her into a corner that she couldn’t get herself out of. “I would suggest not hunting in the forest for the next four days, after last night, we don’t need any fights between you lot; shadow things might still be in the area.”

If only she knew what he was after; what he wanted and what his end goal was. Criminals and Villains usually wanted _something_; rarely did they want world domination. That involved figuring out who he was under the freaky silver mask; and soon afterwards, pieces of the puzzle would come together, and she’ll know how to stop him.

There was always a reason, it might not make sense to others, but it made sense to them and that was all she could worry about.

Robbers wanted money or fame, their name on the front of the daily newspaper. She was sure a few of them, did it for fun or to rebel against the government.

Murders wanted to be in control, the pleasure of the kill or they did for revenge, hatred, passion, love or jealousy.

Rapists wanted to have power over someone, to be in control or show their prey just weak they truly were. Abuser were much the same, it was the pleasure of having over someone they weaker than them, to be in control of the situation.

Alysanne knew it was a simple way of looking at the situation; she also knew that sometimes, more than she liked, the situation really was the simple and that was why criminology existed and how they could catalogue said behaviour.

“He wants something,” she whispered to herself as drained the cooked pasta, grabbing the pasta bake tray, cheese and pasta sauce. “I have a feeling he won’t find it here.”

‘A building block?’ Nymeria asked her.

“Most likely, he’s here to test out some sort of plan,” Alysanne agreed.

On weekdays, she eat two large meals and thus she could got up a six and left at eight. Alysanne never did like what they served in the cafeteria and it was her time to finish her homework and projects, since her night-time activities; along with her dance lessons, language class and her archery lessons ate up her afternoons.

In fact, she had dance class at five today and an archery class tomorrow at two. She would need to make sure; she had a large dinner before she left class and then something to eat before she went on patrol.

“They always want something, even if it’s not from us,” Alysanne said, she didn’t want to know how much raw meat she went through feeding both of them. “What he wants, we won’t know until we can yank that mask off his face, or he just outright tells us, but that would mean I’m tied to something or someone’s tied to something.”

‘I bet ten rabbits that he’ll just tell us,’ Ghost said.

‘I don’t take obvious bets,’ Nymeria shot back.

“The police should be able to deal, hopefully, with anything that happens during the day,” she said to herself as she turned the oven on. Quickly finishing preparing her tuna pasta bake before putting it in the oven. Weekend days were for homework and extra-lessons; along with the rare dance competition that her teacher _highly _suggested she compete in. “There’s Captain Justice and Tribe as well, their known to be active during weekends.”

She could read while waiting her lunch to finish cooking, she was in the middle of _Half a King _by Joe Abercrombie.

“I’ll eat once it’s cooked,” Alysanne told Ghost and Nymeria, who looked at her before eating their own lunch/breakfast.

She knew that no one would think she was Artemis/Huntress, people thought she was far too selfish for that. Like poor, weak little Alysanne would know enough archery or have the strength to be a hero, wouldn’t they be surprised if her identity was called out.

No one, she meant _no one _knew about her Irish dancing or archery lessons. It also helped that in her small town, she was the only one who did it and she had to drive thirty minutes to the nearest city to get to her lessons.

No one in her school was interested in the Irish culture, and she didn’t see that changing anytime soon. Even if _River Dance _and _King of Dance_, had made Irish dancing more popular and she was glad that she could perform for people when she felt like it.

She didn’t do it often, as most of her competitions took place in major cities and she would have to get herself there. Alysanne was sure that she had competed in Ireland once or twice before her mother had died and left her with her distant father.

He had allowed her to continue her dance lessons; since it was something her mum would have wanted her to continue with; along with her Irish Gaelic lessons. To connect to a world that her great-grandparent had to flee during the potato famine.

“It’s going to rain later,” Alysanne said to herself. “I should go to the grocery store and pick some more raw meat. Also running low on food, let’s get this over and done with.”

‘Have fun,’ Nymeria told her.

“You know I won’t,” Alysanne shot back, as she grabbed her reusable bags. “And I don’t care if I’m going in sweats and a t-shirt.”

‘You’ll fit in,’ Ghost told her.

“Good morning Mary,” Alysanne greeted the old woman who walked past her house, she always saw her on the weekends. Her daily walks being during school hours, she enjoyed talking to Mary. She had a gentle voice and a larger than life personality.

Alysanne didn’t care that others were nervous around her, small towns and small minds, sometimes and it saddened her when she learnt the reason some people avoided her. It was because she was an immigrant from Africa, Libya.

Which meant she wasn’t someone of _high class _and thus, parents told their children to avoid her and she thought the news handled African American and Native American issues weirdly. They were either no good criminals or they were victims of crimes committed hundreds of years ago.

Criminals or victims, but never survivors.

Which Alysanne thought was stupid in either direction but kept that to herself. It wasn’t up to her to decide how others dealt with generational trauma. She might have thought of them as survivors and fighters; able to keep some of their traditions alive and their families strong, no matter their so-called _masters _told them.

Then again, she was Irish and her own generational trauma to deal with, without trying to understand another group of people thought about their own. Or what anyone thought of generational trauma.

It was her business and no else’s.

“Alysanne,” Mary greeted.

“Have a lovely day,” she told her.

“You two dear,” Mary told her.

Alysanne nodded before locking the door behind her, before walking towards her car as Mary walked past her driveway. If she waited until Mary was well and truly away from the driveway, that was also her business and no one else’s.

She had groceries to pick up, and a lot of meat to keep in the boot of her chair.


	3. Chapter Three

Alysanne was wary as she parked her motorcycle next to the bakery, she always left it in a spot where it wouldn’t be seen unless you were looking for it. When she had been looking for a motorcycle on her sixteenth birthday, she was glad that she had picked the black one since it made it easier to hide. Even if she had to wear some horrid bright yellow thing over her shirt to be seen at night.

She might not like neon yellow or orange, but it kept her alive on the road and thus she couldn’t complain about it too much. Even if she did put it into the bag on her motorcycle the second, she turned it off, along with her helmet and pulled up the hood of her shirt.

“Cameras are back on,” Alysanne commented as she grabbed her bow and quiver. Putting her quiver strap around her shoulder and making sure it wouldn’t fall off; so far, her danger sense didn’t go off, but she felt better if she was in town for a bit and then headed home for some sleep.

‘No more failed robberies then,’ Nymeria said as she caught up with Ghost.

‘Hopefully not,’ Alysanne told her. ‘But still have so-called _Death itself _to look for and there’s no way I’ll be able to take him on myself.’

‘Team up,’ Ghost suggested.

‘Neither Tribe nor Captain Justice knows about the mad man,’ Alysanne told them. ‘And if I were them, I wouldn’t believe me either.’

‘Not everyday someone will call themselves death,’ Nymeria agreed.

Alysanne nodded her head before slipping out of the alleyway, making sure her keys were secure in her pocket, before closing it to make sure didn’t lose them. She never walked anywhere that took her over two hours, her motorcycle was a convince.

‘Incoming,’ Nymeria told her as she ran into the middle of the road, slamming her head into her head into a woman’s stomach. Alysanne grabbing her wrist, before pulling it behind her, taking a zip cord from her pocket and tying the woman’s wrists together.

“Tribe,” Alysanne greeted as she spotted him, a police officer jogging behind him as she looked at the would-be criminal in her hands. “Officer Wilson.”

“Artemis,” Tribe greeted. 

“Mrs Baker is wanted for abusing her children,” Officer Wilson told her, her blonde hair pulled back into a bun.

“Andromeda got her in the stomach,” Alysanne told her before pointing at Nymeria, there was no way in Hermes’ name she would tell Tribe or Officer Wilson Nymeria and Ghost’s names; she had mentioned back in middle school their names.

She didn’t know who Tribe or Captain Justice was, wasn’t worth the risk in her mind. 

“Not from here? Mrs Baker,” Alysanne asked, when Tribe looked at her.

“Never seen her before,” Tribe told her, before he looked at Nymeria. “Thank you, Andromeda.”

‘You’re welcome,’ Nymeria told him.

“She said you’re welcome,” Alysanne told him.

“She who talks with animals,” Tribe dryly stated. 

Alysanne nodded her head, before Tribe looked at Ghost.

“Perseus,” she told him.

“Greek Myths then,” Tribe said.

“When you have a theme,” Alysanne told him.

‘Now you’re glad we thought of codenames,’ Ghost smugly told her.

‘Oh, shut your face,’ Alysanne told him.

‘It was more my idea,’ Nymeria said.

‘Sure,’ Ghost told her.

“Later,” Alysanne said as she walked away from Tribe, while he just nodded and walked in the opposite direction. It wasn’t until she was near the playground that her danger sense went off and she spotted a hellhound running at her, quickly grabbing an arrow and shooting at the creature before it could attack her.

Her headache wasn’t painful enough for the _Death itself _to be with them, but Alysanne doubted that he wouldn’t be far behind them. He would show up, unless he was going to show himself to Tribe and Captain Justice.

Alysanne knew she needed to get to higher ground, but unlike last time, she didn’t have anywhere to go, and she knew if she turned her back; she would be done for and the police would find her cooling body the next day.

Water went through a hellhound that was coming up behind her, Captain Justice tackled another one and she shoot a third hellhound as Ghost and Nymeria continued to take down the last two, but Alysanne knew there would be more.

Tribe walked next to her and soon there was a water barrier around her; Tribe was standing next to her and she could see she barely came up to his shoulders. The barrier should give them some more breathing room, even if Tribe looked confused.

“There’s no water in them,” Tribe told them.

“What are they?” Captain Justice asked as she looked at the forest.

“Shadow Hellhounds or Direwolves,” Alysanne told them, putting another arrow on her bow as she looked in the same direction as Captain Justice. “I lean more towards Hellhound than Direwolf, haven’t been able to study then closely.”

‘Robin?’ Alysanne asked as the raven dropped her arrows next to her feet. The raven going to sit down on her quiver, sitting there as she looked at him and then the forest; bending down to pick up the arrows and put them back without a word.

“There are six of them coming,” Captain Justice said as she stood in front of Alysanne and the water barrier. Now only blocking her view but putting her own life at risk without knowing it.

“Unless you want an arrow embedded in your shoulder, I would suggest moving you’re not in a good spot,” Alysanne told her, Captain Justice looking her shoulder as Alysanne looked at her bow and arrow. “I might be called _Artemis_, but I don’t trust myself to shoot over your shoulder without nicking you in the process, not with real arrows anyway.”

Captain Justice just looked at her with wide blue eyes, before nodding her head and tackling the first hellhound that jumped out of the forest. Alysanne missed her target, but Robin was flying to get arrow anyway as she shoot her target the second time.

She got the one who was trying to tear into the back of Captain Justice’s dress, though, Tribe was wrapping water around the Hellhound’s neck before tightening it to the point that they would disappear without a sound.

‘What would I do without you?’ Alysanne asked Robin as the raven dropped more arrows next to her, and she went to pick them up as a Hellhound jumped over her head and she grabbed Robin, so he didn’t get bitten.

‘You’d be without arrows,’ Robin told her as she picked up one of said arrows, shooting the hellhound in the back as Tribe stopped another three that tried to jump over them, Robin collecting that arrow.

‘I would be,’ Alysanne agreed.

Turning around, she shoot another hellhound that tried to jump over Tribe’s water barrier, another giant wall had blocked the street access. It should slow down the hellhounds, but Alysanne didn’t know if it would stop them. She didn’t know how else to stop apart from killing them, they weren’t animals.

She couldn’t talk to them, couldn’t hear their thoughts as they didn’t have any. Even the hyenas from _Lion King _could think for themselves, even if they were a few apples short of an apple tree, but those Hellhound’s minds were blank.

Like trying to walk through thick fog, barely able to see the hand in front of your face. 

Like her last battle with them; she knew this one was going to drag on and most likely drive her up the nearest wall. Death itself had to be hiding in the woods, or somewhere near it and that explain why they the shadows hellhounds were coming from said area. She didn’t have time to search the entire forest nor did she know if she could do so without getting attacked; or if she even had the patience to search the entire thing.

Maybe Captain Justice would be better at it than she would, but that meant explaining her last battle with the man and explain the little she knew about it. Only her barely there, non-existent close combat ability.

“This is going to be a long night,” Alysanne said.

“More keep coming,” Captain Justice told them.

“I think their testing us,” Tribe said.

“Their difficult to get a grip on,” Captain Justice told them.

“They’re made out of shadows,” Alysanne told her before firing another arrow at a hellhound that jumped from the tree line. Robin quickly collecting that one, while Tribe extended his water barrier around them, so he could stand on the other side of the playground and where he cut another hellhound that tried to get past him.

‘They must have a code,’ Alysanne said.

‘Most likely,’ Nymeria agreed, while Ghost went to help Tribe with his side of the playground, and she wondered when round two or three would begin. Then she realised something, none of them had even _tried _to attack Robin. Then, they might now want to attack the _black bird _and whoever was controlling them might have told them not to attack black coloured animals.

Or else they might end up attacking each other in the confusion.

She had a feeling they weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, but that would make them easier to control and increase the chances of them making minor and major mistakes. Or just attacking each other in the boredom, between attack attacks and when her danger sense kicked in again, her headache getting worse and she looked to the right.

He was looking at her, hands behind his back as he watched the scene in front of him and she almost wanted to shoot an arrow at him, but that action would put Robin at risk and the hawk behind him was already planning to put his claws into the man’s neck.

But the man just turned around and broke the poor creature’s neck, dropping him onto the ground as he smirked at her. A hellhound pulling her gaze away from the madman, shooting it in the chest before it could attack her, and then her headache was gone.

And she knew, that was he.

“Fucking bastard, motherfucker,” Alysanne swore.

“_Language_,” Captain Justice snapped at her, before tackling another hellhound as Alysanne just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, before shacking her head and getting herself back into the fight at hand.

‘Did she just…’ Ghost said to her after he bit down on a hellhounds neck and bite another’s before they could get to his tail.

‘Say _language _to tell me off for my French? I mean swearing?” Alysanne asked Ghost.

‘Yes.’

‘Then yes, yes she did.’

Like last time, the hellhounds just disappeared and all that was left behind was a dead hawk, when Tribe’s wall broken down and his barriers, she picked up her arrows, putting them away, before putting her bow over her shoulder. 

Walking over to the dead hawk, Tribe and Captain Justice just looked at her as she picked up the dead bird and carried it towards Ghost, who was already digging a hole into the ground for the poor creature; who had attacked the person who was trying to create chaos in his home for the spring.

“She who talks to the wild,” Tribe said as Alysanne lowered its body into the newly created hole, she knew there wasn’t a point to it, but they were a playground and she knew death was seen with fear in most western countries. 

They weren’t in Ireland, where some people would see the funeral process as kinda funny. Since death wasn’t seen as something to fear or avoid, it was something that was part of everyday life and was normal.

“What happened?” Captain Justice asked her.

“Looks like he came back sooner than I, we, had thought he would,” Alysanne told them, she was going to have to tell them. Tell them what happened after she had left Tribe to go after the failed robber; it would embarrass her no doubt and it would hurt her pride.

But it was something that to be done, she couldn’t have anyone walking into the situation without prior knowledge. Even if she did like animals more than she liked humans, her mum would be disappointed in her, if she thought she would protect her pride over someone’s life.

\--

Captain Justice was walking around the playground as she and Tribe sat on the park’s bench. She had told them everything she knew, along with some of her theories, not only her theories but Nymeria’s and Ghost’s as well. Like how the man thought he was Thanatos, or some other male death god.

Unless he thought he was a Goddess, who was she to judge? She was sure people feared Nix and Persephone more than they feared Thanatos and Hades.

While she was still leaning heavily on a _Greek _death god, since she had called her _Artemis, she who runs with animals _and had spoken to her like she was the Goddess after he had called her a weak mortal, he didn’t make sense for more than five seconds at a time.

She didn’t understand him.

“We don’t know what he wants,” Captain Justice said as she continued to pace around the playground, biting her nail as she did so.

“She said that,” Tribe told her, as Ghost and Nymeria napped underneath the bench they were sitting on.

“What are we going to do?” Captain Justice asked as she continued walking, Alysanne was just glad that her ankles were warm, and she knew that she needed to head home soon. She was going to sleep until eleven tomorrow, and she knew it.

At least she had breathing alarm clocks, that weren’t scared of kicking her out of her own bed; only when she refused to get out of it. More so when she had an appointment or school that day, her partners were a pain sometimes.

“The only thing we can go is look up Death Gods and hope for the best, one’s that are older than the God of the Underworld,” Alysanne said, as she put her hands on her lap. “It’s the only hint we have so far, he didn’t talk this time.”

“He’s one of those then, I thought it was a movie thing,” Tribe commented.

“Where do you think he got his costume from? He’s a talker all right,” Alysanne agreed before looking Captain Justice. “If she keeps doing that, she’ll have holes in her boots and a needle in her skin.”

“Needle?” Tribe asked.

“There’s one about where she’s going to stand, junkies use this area at night,” Alysanne told him, the amount of times she had picked up needles from this area wasn’t funny and she knew the police would come check the area at the seven everyday to make sure a child didn’t stand onto one and got AID’s or a HIV from it.

Captain Justice just glared at her, before picking up the needle from the bottom, putting it into a thick padded pouch and dropping it into her pocket. Tribe sighed as she went back to her pacing and her circles.

“You’re a long-distance fighter,” Tribe said, when she nodded her head. He looked at her, before looking at Captain Justice. “We should think about partnering up, but that would mean we need to know who you are.”

“How do I know you’re not going to take this to the police?” Alysanne asked them.

“Because we’d need to tell you who we are,” Tribe told her.

“At least think about it,” Tribe told her.

“I will,” Alysanne told him.

“So just you know, I’m a mid to long range fighter,” he told her, before pointing to Captain Justice, who was still walking in a circle while muttering herself. “She’s a short-range fighter; think about and then we need to train.”

“How long to I have to think about it?” Alysanne asked.

“As long as you need,” Tribe told her.

“I start my route at nine,” she told him, she didn’t know if she trusted him or Captain Justice, but also knew that she wouldn’t be able to take on _Death itself _by herself. “Park my motorcycle at the bakery, it’s where the first attack happened.”

“Good spot to hide a motorcycle,” Tribe told her.

“Only Captain Justice can fly,” she said while nodding towards Captain Justice as she continued to pace. “She’s also the only one that the media didn’t pick a name for.”

“She was the only one who had a name picked,” Tribe said.

“I didn’t talk to anyone from the media,” Alysanne admitted.

“And thus, they nicknamed you.”

“Rats.”

“Media’s creative.”

“Greek Goddess and a popular cartoon character,” Alysanne admitted. “Hard to disagree with that, they’re not that creative.”

“What are we going to do?” Captain Justice asked them as she stopped pacing, she was still rocking on her heels in front of them.

“We might have to team up, train together,” Tribe told her. “She’s a long-distance fighter, but we’ll need to work on formations with her and her partners.”

“You can keep the enemy away from Artemis and attack at the same time,” Captain Justice agreed before opening her mouth, Tribe shock his head and she closed it, before sighing.

“Later, we have one formation for the hellhounds,” Tribe said.

“It’ll only work for a frontal attack, a few almost escaped,” Captain Justice said.

“Last time I picked them off from the roof,” Alysanne told them. “I’ve also fought from treetops and vents, don’t think the last is useful in this case.”

“We don’t kill people,” Captain Justice told her.

“Generally; nor do I, but I make exceptions,” Alysanne told her. “For this man, paedophiles, rapists and serial killers. Everyone else gets pinned, then tied up for the police to collect.”

“What about that man?” Tribe asked her.

“Which one, the one about the drive his children into the lake or the one that who was trying to rape a six-month-old baby?” Alysanne asked them.

“Right,” Captain Justice said.

“Not everything is black and white,” Alysanne told them, Ghost nudged her ankle and Alysanne looked towards the tree line. She spotted Katniss the Squirrel and she had to wonder why she was here.

Along with how many peanut cookies she was going to have to make.

“A squirrel?” Tribe asked as Alysanne pushed herself up, walking towards Katniss before putting out her hand for her to run down.

‘Katniss,’ Alysanne greeted.

‘We’ll find him, report on what we find,’ Katniss promised. ‘Those creatures are trying to ruin our home.’

‘Be careful, we killed Mal without blinking,’ Alysanne warned her.

‘We don’t want him in _our _forest,’ Katniss told her, her tail twitching in irritation and Alysanne took out a cookie that she kept in one of her zipped pockets. “Those hellhounds are pests and he’s controlling them.’

‘People think they’ll die when they see a hellhound three times,’ Alysanne told her, highly amused by some people’s reactions. ‘No one wants them in the forest, it’ll send the entire town into panic.’

‘And they’ll try to storm the forest,’ Katniss said, taking the cookie from her. ‘We’ll report to you.’

“What’s going on?” Tribe asked.

“I’ll be getting reports about anything that Katniss and her small group finds,” Alysanne told them as she lifted her arm up, to allow Katniss to go back to the tree and back to the forest to pass along the message. “It would seem that his hellhounds are causing a fuse in the forest, so we have the woodland creatures on our side.”

“Katniss?” Captain Justice asked her.

“It’s what I named the squirrel,” Alysanne told them. “It’s one in the morning and I have something that I have to be awake for, don’t think they’ll be impressed if I have to go to ER because I was half asleep.”

“And if something happens?” Captain asked her.

“If you need me, I’ll be there. Your going to have to trust me on this,” Alysanne told her, nodding before she made her way to the bakery. Ghost and Nymeria following behind her, they’ll dart into the forest once she was on her motorcycle heading home.

“Think about it,” Tribe yelled after her.

“I will,” she screamed back.


	4. Chapter Four

Alysanne almost cursed as just missed walking into one of the school’s cheerleaders; a girl named Rosalie White, along with twin Rebecca and Alice Lee. The two twins had dyed their hair blonde, not that Alysanne cared, it wasn’t like it was her hair and it was their life and their bodies. All of them were wearing their cheer uniforms, they must have had practice in the morning, while Alysanne was still thinking about Tribe’s words and _Death itself_.

If she didn’t say anything, they’ll get bored with her and annoy something else; did she believe the stereotype that cheerleaders were blonde and air-headed? No, since the school had a policy that stopped people with grades lower than a C from joining any sports team. So no, she didn’t think they were dumb.

But like most teenagers, she knew they would be petty. She knew that _she _could be petty, but empty headed? That stereotype was a stereotype that belonged in movies, some might pretend to fit because it was easier to blend in during high school than stand out; Alysanne had stood out since kindergarten and had stopped caring during elementary.

Nor could she find it in herself to really care to waste her precious hours of sleep to do something about her appearance, which she knew was funny, since she was willing to spend forty-five minutes cooking breakfast; but that was for her and no one else.

“History nerd,” Rebecca told her.

“Sure,” Alysanne replied.

“Geek,” Alice said.

“You were are only good at art,” Alysanne told them without thinking, they were _good _at it, but if they were trying to get into fine art, they’ll be shocked, there’s a reason must artists were called _starving artists_.

Alysanne had seen better street art than what was in some museums, including everything she had brought from _Etsy _and _Red Bubble_.

“Have fun trying to get into the blood pit that’s called the world of _Fine Art_,” she told them. “I’ll be happy with my carrier in the health or crime sector.” 

With her abilities? It made sense, the only thing that made sense in her life, either becoming a nurse or police officer. Even if she didn’t think she had the right headspace for being a police officer, she spend most of her nights breaking the law.

Even through would be stressful, it was a job that would suit her and something she could study; she wouldn’t get paid as a superhero and she doubted that CIA would want her. Rosalie just nodded at her, before walking away from her, while Rebecca and Alice just followed her without another word.

Alysanne didn’t know what made people popular, there were many reasons, some kids were popular for their sexuality, sex life, along with their weight, appearance, gender and other things that she didn’t care to think about it.

Alysanne just couldn’t stand people and she hated the public-school system.

“Suck it up Byrnes,” she whispered to herself as she made it to her locker, picking up her English books and her book. “After this, there’s only a senior year and then you can go anywhere that’ll accept you.”

She would have to investigate, because there’s no way she would leave Ghost or Nymeria behind for anything short of murder. It was hard to take dogs that more wolf-like, it was the reason she called them her wolves. It might be harder to do so; she would look up the laws on that before going to any universities.

She would also have to find a rental with an area large enough to for them to run around in; along with their daily walks, maybe even a town that didn’t have such high rights of crime, so she wasn’t in so much pain.

Alysanne wasn’t going to going to leave her best friends and partners behind; she’d sooner just here and work three jobs for the rest of her than do that. Cutting her arm would be last painful, she didn’t want it to come to that.

If it did, then she’ll just have to live with it.

She had English first and when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She opened it and saw that her father had texted her _good morning_, but she didn’t know where he was and didn’t know what to reply with.

The next text was, _rainy in London_.

London was about five hours in front of them, a small smile on her face as she texted back; _good afternoon_. His texts were rare, and each one tore her in half. She didn’t know if she wanted him to text at all, or to make some more effect and text her when he landed.

They still made her smile and she wouldn’t say anything about his texts to him; she didn’t want him to feel guilty about it. She didn’t think that would be her goal, better than to talk about it and just let him think she was neutral about the whole thing.

“Hey,” Rosalie said as she stood next to Alysanne’s locker, books in her hand and she spotted the book on top of the stack. _Keys to the Kingdom; Mister Monday_ by Garth Nix. “Sorry about Alice and Rebecca.”

“It’s fine, they didn’t mention the eyes,” Alysanne told her.

“They shouldn’t make fun of for enjoying history,” Rosalie told her.

“I made fun of them,” Alysanne told her.

“You did, but situations aren’t black and white,” Rosalie told her, and that made Alysanne blink since it was something she had told Captain Justice Saturday night and it was coming back to bit her for a different reason.

“We were all in the wrong,” Alysanne told her, she wasn’t an idiot. She was sure both twins had strengths outside of art, that if they loved something enough they would put all their soul into it and become successful. “Just tell them to look at _Red Bubble_, it’ll help get their name into the art world at the very least.” 

“I’ll let them know,” Rosalie told her. “Did you hear about the failed robbery? Tribe said Artemis had been watching the guy for over an hour.”

“And?” Alysanne asked, so she had watched him swear at a _door_. She didn’t think it was a crime, even if it was, her methods were more on the violent side than Tribe’s and Captain Justice’s and she was ready to admit that.

“It means that Artemis isn’t some man hater like her namesake,” Rosalie said.

“I don’t even think the Greek Goddess was some man hater either, she liked Orion well enough and there was another hunter that Aphrodite got killed,” Alysanne told her. “She just wasn’t interested and didn’t like it when a guy saw her naked, otherwise she left them well enough alone and it was her _father _that stuffed around with humanity more than she did.”

“You really like Greek Myths,” Rosalie told her.

“Mythology in general, why?” Alysanne asked her.

“Just need to look up a Death God, Hades?” Rosalie asked her.

“Hades wasn’t a _death god_, he was in charge of the underworld and riches, same with Pluto his roman counterpart,” Alysanne told her, Hades wasn’t _Satan _and wasn’t as evil as people thought it was. Sure, he might have kidnapped Persephone -which was a big no-no in today’s time- but that was normal back in Ancient Greece. “You’re thinking Thanatos or Mors as his known as in Roman Mythology.”

“Any more death deities?”

“You want a list?”

“That many?”

“Ever culture that has exited has a death deity.”

“That’s a lot,” Rosalie said as they made their way to English class. “Anyone of them older than the underworld.”

“Anubis is older than Osiris and Izanami is seen as the first person to die in Japanese Mythology, why are you so interested?” Alysanne asked her.

“My sister and had an argument about Death Gods, but I guess she won this round,” Rosalie told her.

“Hades,” Alysanne said.

“And Hermes,” Rosalie said.

“What about Hermes?”

“Rosemarie said he was also an underworld god.”

“He is, Hermes’ is a workaholic.”

“Isn’t he just a messenger god?”

“Irish was also a messenger goddess,” Alysanne shot back. “Hermes was a jack of all trades, the sign we use for medical is his, not Apollon’s.”

“Apollon?” Rosalie asked.

“Apollon is his Greek name; _Apollo _is his Roman.”

“I thought Apollo was the sun god.”

“Only became that when the Titan Helios refused to do it; his son had been killed because he had allowed him to drive it.”

“Drama.”

“Welcome to Mythology. Indian, African and Egyptian Mythology is just as interesting,” Alysanne told her. “I think I found some Dream time stories and Native American ones, but if you’re not into Mythology, it’ll just be boring to you.”

“You know a lot,” Rosalie commented.

“Did a lot of research,” Alysanne told her, since Friday night and when she had free time, she looked up a _list _of Death Gods around the world. Wikipedia had one, now she just had to go through said list and hope for the best.

If she finished her homework early, she could go back to doing that and hope that no saw her doing it. It was a strange research topic, dear Hermes, she didn’t even know if meant a death god and if he didn’t, then she was screwed.

The amount of gods that were older than the god of the underworld was large, Hel was Loki’s daughter and thus everyone born before she was counted; which was _most of them_ and there were at least two generation before Hades, she didn’t even want to think about the Egyptian pantheon, because that just made her want to cry. 

\--

Alysanne was glad, happy and wanted to shoot something. English class was almost over, this was a subject, she got and didn’t get, it was like Math. She saw the point of the lessons, to an extent and the rest seemed meaningless to her. When would they need Shakespeare, couldn’t they leave that to the theatre class and worry about more modern and said something about the world they lived in now.

Not about the sixteenth century and sexism that was dealt with in the fifties, about arrange marriages to older man that was against the law. Classics, in her mind, belonged in a literature class, not in an English class.

She’d sooner want to read Anne Frank’s Diary than Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. Leave the classics for those who want to read them, not push them onto students who could barely stand to read something from the 2000’s because they thought it was old.

“Alright everyone, team for a group assessment,” Mrs Black said as she clapped her hands together to bring attention to her and Alysanne was tempted to go back to her questions about _Romeo and Juliet_ just to spite her, she wasn’t a dog or a pet for Hermes’ sake.

And even then, she wouldn’t clap at Nymeria or Ghost to get their attention; saying their names worked. They knew what their names worked, cats just didn’t want to answer, and she was fine with that. Since they seemed to know some of the best hiding spots, and some of them she had used to get away from someone.

All cats wanted from her were pets and to tell them where the nearest food source was, dogs were miniature wolves and cats were miniature lions. Anyone could fight her on it, but that was how she saw them, then again, she hadn’t told anyone, and she doubted that she would any time soon.

“You’ll do in pairs, pairs that _I’ve _chosen; some student have been doing group project on their own and others have been doing it with their friends,” Mrs Black told them before everyone groaned, while looking at their friend. Alysanne knew that Mrs Black wouldn’t be putting friends together, telling them that they wouldn’t be working with people they liked all the time and they had to get used to it. “I’ll give you a slip with your partners name on it, sit near them and I’ll give your assessment.”

Mrs Black handed her a piece of paper, she knew she wasn’t going to be happy to like whoever she ended up with, usually she could talk to Mrs Black into letting her do it on her own and allow another group to have three people on it.

“Looks like we’re partners,” Rosalie told her as she sat down in front of her, a piece of paper being placed in front of them.

“Looks like,” Alysanne told her, looking at the piece of paper that said _Rosalie White _on it. “We should brainstorm and chose a prompt.”

“Anything that could be about mythology?” Rosalie asked her. “After what you’ve told me, I’m more interested; perfect time to do research.”

“We could write about similarities between different mythologies,” Alysanne said as she scanned the piece of paper. “We’ll just have to ask Mrs Black, it said we can do that.”

“I don’t see why she’d say no,” Rosalie agreed. “Most people don’t think I’ll be able to help or would agree with such a large prompt.”

“Just because you’re pretty, doesn’t mean there’s air between your ears,” Alysanne told her before writing something down. Such as _nature deity, death deity and sun/moon deity_. “And mythology is large, easy enough to get stuck down a rabbit hole; there’s a number of books about the subject in different genres. Such as Percy Jackson and Rick Riordan presents, we are _not _watching those pieces of trash they call movies.”

“I’ll just read them then,” Rosalie told her. 

“It’s a good series, long,” Alysanne warned her. “There’s Percy Jackson, then the heroes of Olympus, the Kane chronicles.”

“Is that all of them?”

“Nope, there’s Magnus Chase and the Apollon Series. Along with a cross over between Percy Jackson and the Kane chronicles, along with random books with information about the mythology of said books.”

“You’ve read them, haven’t you?”

“I started as a child, read them as soon as they come out.”

“I should have noticed you before,” Rosalie told her. “Your eyes are -”

“Freaky,” Alysanne said cutting her off.

“I was going to say _pretty _or _unique_,” Rosalie told her, before shacking her head while Alysanne just looked at her. “It’s creepy, but I just want to stare at them.”

“That’s a bit creepy, not going to lie,” Alysanne told her. “Besides, humans aren’t the most observant, if it isn’t going to kill, your brain isn’t going to pay attention it.” 

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Rosalie told her.

Alysanne shrugged, she didn’t know what to say to that. So, she just started writing down notes about the death gods she had looked up, they might as well stay even _known _mythologies such as Greek, Roman and Egyptian, maybe throw in a lesser known god or goddess, if only to throw off cheerful Mrs Black.

They should be able to pull this off and get a decent grade, Alysanne would be happy with a _C_, but she didn’t know which grade that Rosalie was used to getting, but she was it was in the high B’s or A’s.

“When can we do this, after school?” Rosalie asked her.

“I usually study during the breaks,” Alysanne told her. “You have cheer practice; I have my own after school activities that take most of my time. Unless you want to do it on the weekend; the sooner we get it done, the safer we’ll be. Even if it is due at the end of year.”

“If that’s the case, she’ll let us use some class time,” Rosalie agreed. “This weekend, Friday and Saturday. We can start.”

“I’ll bring my notes then,” Alysanne said. “My house or yours, public library?”

“Mum worries a lot, she’d prefer I didn’t go anywhere I haven’t before,” Rosalie admitted, before blinking and looking at her. “Go to people’s houses that I don’t know that well, I’m sure you’re fine, but I’ve never met your parents.”

“Parent, overexplained like a good Irishman,” Alysanne teased slightly. “Yours then, doesn’t make a difference were.”

“What about your parent?” Rosalie asked.

“It’s fine, he won’t even know about it. He’s in London at the moment, could be in Paris or Poland by Friday,” Alysanne told her, packing up her book before labelling her piece of paper, so she knew what she was looking at, at two in the morning and throw it had like her done back in Freshman year.

“What are you girls thinking of doing?” Mrs Black asked them, her clipboard in her hand as she smiled at them.

“We’re thinking of comparing different mythologies,” Rosalie told her, smiling as Mrs Black blinked at her. “And seeing what similar between them in myths that are available. Alysanne’s done most of the research, it should be easy to see what’s similar.”

“Of course, girls,” Mrs Black told them. “I’ll write that down, as long as it’s over two thousand words.”

“Easy,” Alysanne told her. “We’ll be able to do that; nature and the human conditioning have been found in most mythologies around the world.”

“Death gods,” Rosalie added.

“Along with the idea of the son overthrowing the father, allowing the next generation to take control,” Alysanne added. “Happened in both Greek and Egyptian Mythology, more so with Sun Gods in Egypt, the whole lot in Greek.”

“Interesting,” Mrs Black told them. “Can’t wait to read it at the end of the year, good luck girls.”

“Oh, how I hate her,” Alysanne muttered.

“She’s trying,” Rosalie said.

“If you say so,” Alysanne told her. “But this is going to be the best thing I’ve written, if only to throw her _good luck _in her face.”

Rosalie just looked at her, before smiling. “We can start at lunch then, start with Death Gods and Underworld Gods?”

“I think we’re in agreement then,” Alysanne told her, with a grin and shacking her head. “I’ve been researching them, so I have my notes already here, I’ll just need to remember them at lunch, along with the book I brought.”

“Lunch then,” Rosalie said.

“Lunch.”


	5. Chapter Five

The night was young and Alysanne was waiting for Tribe and Captain Justice to show up; she had left a little earlier since the beginnings of a headache had been annoying her since around seven and she had a feeling that _something _was going to happen. Ghost and Nymeria were walking around the bakery, while she kept her bow and arrow in hand in case any hellhounds showed up.

She just wanted this to be done, he was messing with them and she knew that. He could have snapped her neck the day he threw her off the building; but he was playing at sometime and it didn’t suit well with her.

“Artemis,” he said as he appeared behind her, Alysanne would have brought a dagger, but it would have been used against her.

“Thanatos or do you prefer Mors?” Alysanne asked, her head was hurting but it wasn’t bad enough for his little army of shadow puppets. “No shadow army this time?”

“Smart wild child,” he told her.

“Your obsession with Greek Mythology gave you away,” she told him.

“I am Thanatos and Mors; we are one in the same. The God’s will return, and revenge will be ours for what humanity has done to us,” he told her, Alysanne made sure she was ready to shoot if he took one more step towards her. “Everything that has been taken from us will be returned, the old order will be returns and the failed system will be removed.”

He wants to ruin the western world, Alysanne thought to herself and she narrowed her eyes and thought about it. He didn’t make any sense and she doubted he was just going to tell her, return of the Gods? Did he mean just the Greek ones?

Maybe she could just annoy him and hope for the best.

“And what will you bring in?” Alysanne asked him, her fingers twitching on her bow string and she bend over slightly. “Communism? Because I can tell you right now; that it doesn’t work. Millions died of starvation in China and Russia, missions are dying in Venezuela; they wouldn’t be fleeing if it was the best thing for humanity.”

“_Mob rule _will fall, the _old-world order _will return,” he hissed at her.

“Anything before the 1900’s is considered the _old-world _order,” Alysanne told him, flinching slightly as he turned to glare at her with pitch black eyes. Her kicks were strong from her Irish dancing, but that wouldn’t do anything without any technique or control.

Papers called her Artemis, and this was the third time he had popped up while she was alone, and she didn’t believe in coincidences. Once, she wouldn’t question it, but this was the third time and he didn’t talk with Tribe and Captain Justice around.

“We’ll bring in a new world order, the Gods have been reborn,” he said while looking away from her, Alysanne looking at him as he walked backwards standing at the edge of the bakery’s roof with a giant smile on his face. “We will be remembered as more than a child’s story; more than pieces of stories put together. More than myth’s, dear Artemis, you’re more important than you now and you will _remember_.”

‘Ghost, I think you were _half _right,’ Alysanne told him

‘Classic villain,’ Ghost told her.

‘Not this one,’ Nymeria told him.

‘This one is a nutcase,’ Alysanne told them.

‘Tribe’s here,’ Nymeria told her, sitting down next to the bakery’s door, Alysanne didn’t want to think about what the cameras were seeing as all of them were back on, even when she knew it would be a common for their security team to see.

“Why didn’t you connect us?” Captain Justice asked her as she landed on the roof, Tribe following shortly behind while Alysanne stared into the spot that Mors was standing in. “We could have helped or caught him.”

“It would be as easy as catching shadows,” Alysanne told her, before putting her arrow back into her quiver. “I don’t exactly have a way to connect you two, what was I meant to use, smoke? He would have snapped my neck.”

“That’s why we need you to trust us,” Captain Justice told her.

“And risk my life in the hands of a stranger; no thank you. All he did was talk, not a hellhound in sight,” Alysanne told her. “He might have made no sense, left more questions than answers but he didn’t raise a hand towards me.”

“What about your family? Friends? Why can’t you think about those who love you?” Captain Justice hissed at her. “Stop being so damn selfish.”

“Girls, girls, you’re both pretty,” Tribe said as he walked between them, putting his hands up before water went around their feet. “What happened; happened. Artemis, if you could tell us what happened that would be great.”

“She doesn’t trust us,” Captain Justice huffed.

“As you’ve been told Cap, trust is _earned_,” Tribe reminded her.

“We should go down, in case Perseus and Andromeda have spotted something,” Alysanne said as she looked down at her partners.

‘Anything?’ Alysanne asked.

‘Not one shadow,’ Nymeria told her.

Tribe nodded his head before following her down, Ghost and Nymeria walking next to her as she walked to a nearby bench. Tribe sitting next to her, as Ghost and Nymeria sat down next to her ankles.

Captain Justice flew down before standing in front of them, an annoyed look on her face as she tried to stare her down. Alysanne wasn’t going to leave her partners out of this because Captain Justice wanted to act childish.

‘Can’t see or small anything,’ Ghost told her.

‘Didn’t bring anyone this time,’ Nymeria added.

‘Thank you,’ Alysanne told them.

“Did they see anything?” Tribe asked.

“Negative,” Alysanne told them.

“So, what happened?” Captain Justice asked.

“You know that he showed up again, goes by both _Thanatos _and _Mors_,” Alysanne told them as Captain Justice kept an eye on the tree line behind her. “He left his little shadow army at home this time, or their elsewhere; Susan can’t seem to pinpoint where he’s hiding.”

“Susan? Who’s Susan?” Captain Justice asked her.

“Susan is a squirrel,” Alysanne replied.

“No one would think to look for spying squirrels, or spying any animals,” Tribe said nodding his head while grinning. “Did this _Thanatos _or _Mors _tell you wanted he wanted.”

“He did and he didn’t, said the old gods would take revenge,” Alysanne told them, they just looked at her and she could understand the feeling; this man never made sense for more than five seconds at a time.

It was like he was trying to throw her off, which meant he was smarter than she had thought he was, or he didn’t really have a plan, making it up as he went along.

Either one could be extremely dangerous.

“He wants to either bring in a new world order an old one,” Alysanne finished.

“I don’t like this,” Captain Justice said.

“No one would like this,” Alysanne told them, putting her head in her hands while rubbing her eyes and she was glad she kept her nails short, or she would have small marks on her nose. “Let’s admit it, none of us are ready for this. All three of us are used to dealing with _small _crime, mostly _petty _crime; not something that’s been planned for more than a week or a month. _This_, this looks like Mors has been planning it for years, maybe even before any of us were born.”

“Meaning?” Captain Justice asked.

“_Meaning_, we might be dealing with a plan that’s been planned for years, maybe for _generations _and we’re not ready,” Alysanne shot back. “For all we know, it could something that’s been planned even a family or cult, Hermes’ knows how many there are.”

“And we don’t anything about his plan, we know a _codename _and nothing more,” Tribe said as he placed his elbows on his knees.

“We really don’t. Might want world domination or he might want to kill fifty percent of the world’s population, might want to get rid of organised religion,” Alysanne said while putting her hands on her lap, if she didn’t, she might end up biting her nails. “Might be happy just taking over America or might end up wiping countries he doesn’t like.”

“Which could be any country,” Captain Justice pointed out.

“_Any_,” Alysanne agreed.

“He’s planning something big,” Tribe agreed.

“We have to keep an open mind about this one,” Alysanne told them. “He’s not planning to rob a bank or a store, we don’t even know if he’s going to destroy a certain group, the only thing we know for true, is that he thinks the old gods have been reborn.”

“And what the means, we don’t know,” Captain Justice added.

“We don’t even know if there’s more people involved; one person can’t plan something this big or detailed,” Alysanne told them. “We don’t even know if our town is merely a steppingstone, he’s looking for something and we don’t know what it is or if he’d found it.”

“You have Facebook?” Tribe asked her, pulling out a Touch Screen Phone, it wasn’t an iPhone and that was all Alysanne knew about it. “Or a burner phone? Prepaid sim?”

“All of them can be tracked down,” Alysanne told them.

“Not if they’re under the same name, a false name,” Tribe told her. “I can get you one if you wish; the town likes talking to us through it. Put your name as _Artemis Huntress_.”

“You broke the law with Captain Justice near you?” Alysanne asked him, keeping an eye on Captain Justice. “And _she _broke the law, doing the same thing?” 

“I would do anything to protect my family,” Captain Justice told her. “Kidnappings are _known _to happen.”

“Villains won’t hesitate to use family or friends against you,” Alysanne said blinking as Captain Justice nodded her head. “Anything to make you drop your guard for even for a fraction of a second.”

“Like you said, not everything is black and white,” Captain Justice said; Alysanne would have said something but her head was starting to hurt, and she knew something dangerous was going to happen, two different things in two different locations.

“Two things are happening, one in the park and the other on the town’s only highway. Both are going to happen soon, at the same time,” Alysanne told them looking in the direction her bike was in, it would be easier for Captain Justice and Tribe to take the park.

She could take the highway, seeing as she was the one with a mode of transportation. She also had Ghost and Nymeria, they had allowed children to ride on their backs before and she was sure they would do it again.

‘You know we will,’ Nymeria told her.

‘Didn’t doubt that for a minute,’ Alysanne told Ghost and Nymeria. ‘You two have been silent for this conversation, something wrong?’

‘Nothing to add,’ Ghost told her.

Alysanne only looked at them, before looking back at Tribe and Captain Justice as they whispered to each other.

“You two okay to take the park? It’s not that bad, but it’ll both of you,” she told them.

“How bad?” Tribe asked her.

“Nothing any of us can’t handle, but not something any of us should take on by ourselves,” Alysanne told them.

That and she had a feeling that no one needed to die, but she couldn’t say the same thing about the highway. Alysanne had a feeling that something was going to piss her off and someone was going to have an arrow in their throat or heart; or an arrow in general.

“You’re going by yourself,” Captain Justice told her.

“That’s where your wrong,” Alysanne told her pointing at Nymeria and Ghost, no one expected them to be there. “I have two partners, while you have one. Push comes to shove we could work together, if we had to, world ending work together. Neither of these situations fall under that category, along with leaving one person to be harmed.” 

“Remember, Cap, trust takes work,” Tribe said. “Someone’s being attacked at the park.”

“Or their high as a kite,” Alysanne said. “Nymeria and Ghost might not help in that situation, they generally just stare at them. Some of them end up sobbing, it’s not a pretty picture.”

“Why are you taking the highway?” Captain Justice asked her.

“My partners can keep up with my motorcycle, I also have transportation if I have to take them to the police or hospital,” Alysanne told them. “Not because it’s more dangerous.”

And it’s more likely someone will need to die, Alysanne thought to herself. Captain Justice kill someone? Alysanne would sooner die her hair gold before Captain Justice would let go of her own morals.

“Cap let’s go before someone gets stabbed,” Tribe told Captain Justice, who nodded her head as she lifted from the ground; Alysanne was slightly annoyed that she could fly and have x-ray vision, the only thing that made feel better was that she wasn’t good at long distance battle. “Artemis, tomorrow; same time and same place.”

“Same time, same place,” Alysanne agreed.

\--

When Alysanne arrived; she heard something that made her blood boil like she thought it would and she grabbed her bow before Nymeria or Ghost could her anything. _Children_ and it had been awhile since she had felt this way; the last person she had killed for hurting a child in her presence was a father trying to beat his two-year-old to death.

The poor girl had been blamed for her mother’s death; which somehow, Alysanne had a feeling that she didn’t have anything to do with it. Maybe the Facebook thing might be a good idea, she could see how the girl was doing at her aunt’s house.

When she walked closer to the clearing, she could their whimpers. Some people shouldn’t be allowed _near _children and some people shouldn’t be blessed with each a gift. The same she found beating his child, she didn’t know if he was still alive; not after she had shoot him in the balls and removed it before taking the poor girl away from him.

She never once looked back at the man, same went for the one that tried to drive his children into a pond before his wife left him. Alysanne was sure that one lived, since she had shot his tire before he could go off the road and shoot his wrist before taking the children and her arrow away from him without a word.

Keeping her place hiding with the leaves she looked at the two men that were fighting with each, before looking at the three children that were tied to a tree. The children looked _Latino _or _Hispanic_; not that it mattered to her in the slightest bit.

They could be neon pink and she’d still protect them till her last breath.

Children were innocent, children shouldn’t worry about adult things. They should be worried about making new friends, what new adventure they would go on, what they would learn and what their imagination would take them. They should be excited about what they were going to learn in school, what new information would push their passions.

Not what these sick twisted men had in mind for them, things that might be scar adults and leave them feeling worthless. Not being scared in a country where they didn’t speak the language, know anyone and that would not do.

‘Nymeria, Ghost, make sure _none _of their bodies land on the children,’ Alysanne told them as she drew an arrow, the men were fighting with each other in Spanish. Something about them being lost and how their boss would kill them if they knew.

The three children were looking at them with wide eyes as Ghost and Nymeria jumped in front of them, growling as the man turned around and got an arrow in the throat for his trouble; now she was glad that she had taken Spanish since elementary.

Mum always told her the more languages she knew, the more people she could talk to, while she didn’t think she was _fluent _in Spanish; she knew enough to carry out conversations, it helped that she had books in both Spanish and Irish Gaelic.

“Los traficantes de personas no son bienvenidos aquí,” she warned him, this was a warning she had a feeling she say more times than she would like but shooting him in the heart didn’t even bother her. Walking into the field, two other grown men walked out and she shoot them before they get their guns.

How they had lived so long, she didn’t know. The idiots had thought they were safe, thus keeping their guns out of reach while she already had her weapon in her hand. So, she didn’t get shot around fifty times for her efforts, depending on the type of gun that he had.

Human traffickers didn’t deserve to live, in her eyes. Anyone who’d take another’s freedom, put them in chains deserved to put down like the animal they were, it was no longer the sixteenth century and some things belonged in the past.

Like slavery; it was worse when someone tried placing a _child _into such a situation, well, Alysanne knew that she wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep and if that made her a villain, then she was a villain, and no one would change her mind.

Ghost and Nymeria were still standing in front of the children, now she could talk to them after she had gotten rid of the bodies. She would have to drop them off at the police, with a small note saying that they didn’t speak any English and that they would need a translator.

‘Does anyone want to hide bodies?’ Alysanne asked the animals in a thirty-meter radius of where she was standing, she walked over to them and removed her arrows. She always did find it odd that she never had any trouble removing them from whatever she had shot, be that a barrel or a human body. ‘They tried to pups, cubs.’

‘I’ll do it,’ Susan and Peter told her, even if Alysanne was slightly surprised that _bears _offered to remove them, usually it was wolves that answered her requests for such things. Not that she had to request thing very often, usually most of the situations she found herself in didn’t involve _children _and that might have made a difference.

Might also be the reason she hadn’t been caught in three odd years.

“Hola, mi nombre es Artemis,” she told them as she walked over and kneeling in front of them, Ghost and Nymeria sitting next to her as she made sure they didn’t see Susan or Peter behind her, funny how much the human mind could miss. “Y estos son Perseus y Andromeda, estamos aquí para ayudar. ¿Me da sus nombres?”

“Soy José, este es mi hermanito; Luis y mi hermanita; Elena,” the oldest said, he looked to be around seven years old.

“Quiero a mamá,” Elena told her, the two boys hugged her after Alysanne tied them lose and when she looked behind her, the four bodies were gone, but she could still see their car. She’ll just have to write a note, telling the police that it was there.

“Lo sé,” Alysanne told her, before rubbing her arms and smiling. “La policía te ayudará, te llevarán de vuelta con tu mamá.”

She could only hope that she was telling them the truth, no one would allow small children to make their way back to Mexico. They would be sent on a plane and returned to their parents without much fuss; at least that was her understanding of the children treaty by the United Nations.

“¿Puedes sujetar a tu hermano fuertemente?” Alysanne asked Jose.

“I can,” Jose told her.

“Bien, te dejaré en la policía con una nota. Harán que alguien traduzca,” she told them before nodding her head towards her two partners. “Puedo quedarme contigo, si lo deseas.”

Alysanne hoped they were too young to remember this, she really did. Elena and Luis might have been, but Jose would be a tricky one. The police were going to have a shock, since she didn’t really have anything to do with them.

“Por favor,” Elena told her.

Alysanne didn’t pity the police, not one bit. She just wasn’t looking forward to the questioning that she herself would get, she might have to translate for them and that meant she could control how much they knew about what happened.

“Claro,” Alysanne told them. “Conduciré despacio, pero tendrás que aferrarte fuerte. Tengo una motocicleta.”

She had to look for more people from this trafficking ring, along with keeping an ear out for Mors at the same time. She would not tell Captain Justice or Tribe about this, since it would mean admitting to murder and she wasn’t an idiot.

The traffickers weren’t going to last long once she got her hands on them.


	6. Chapter Six

The letter in her hand wasn’t a bill; it wasn’t a letter from her father, and she had never seen the handwriting before. Her day was normal, more had been done on the English project during lunch and her Irish dancing class had gone well; but now she was left with this handwritten letter and no way of knowing how it had gotten into her letterbox.

Now she was starting to panic. Her heartrate was increasing, and her breathing had quickened, putting the letter on the table as if it had burnt her hand. She had been so concerned about the return address, that she hadn’t looked at _who _it was addressed to and how it didn’t have an address on it.

The thing that made Alysanne’s heart and breathing pick up; was the fact it wasn’t addressed to _Alysanne Byrne _or _Kellen Byrne_. No, it was addressed to _Artemis Agrotora_ and Alysanne was sure that _Agrotora _was another name that Artemis was given. At least it wasn’t _Artemis Huntress_; something that Tribe had joked to her about last night.

‘It’s not going to bite you,’ Nymeria told her amused as Alysanne continued to look at it as if it would come alive and try to kill her.

“I know that,” Alysanne told her while closing the kitchen curtains, going over to her laptop where the footage from the houses security systems could be accessed. “But it’s a handwritten note addressed to _Artemis Agrotora_ and the only person who’d call me that is Mors; which means I was followed.”

‘That’s not good,’ Ghost said.

“No, means he knows where I live,” Alysanne said as the camera cut out, great, he knew there were cameras and temporarily took them out. Now she didn’t know _who _delivered it, meaning that she didn’t know if Nymeria or Ghost would be safe during the day. “Mors know where I live, meaning he might know _who _I am, that means they knew about father and that might mean he’s life is in danger for the dangerous shit his daughter does without him knowing the reason, this is just great and dainty.” 

‘They might not know,’ Nymeria pointed out.

“I highly doubt it,” Alysanne told her putting her hand on top of her head as she walked around the table, unless they had followed her last night or before that. That would mean they didn’t know her name; or Ghost or Nymeria’s. It wouldn’t be _hard _to get her name now; all it would take was stealing a letter from her letterbox or following her to school or running her licence plate.

There were so many ways for them to find her name, if she was feeling brave enough she would go outside and drive her car into the carport. But she didn’t, not until she was ready to leave as Artemis and from the back door, not the front.

She had gotten comfortable, and that had been her downfall.

“Highly, highly doubt it,” Alysanne told them as she walked around the table, the piece of paper sitting innocently on her table and she was tempted to burn it. “If they don’t have it now, they’ll get it. There’s _one _High School in town, I’m the only one with two different coloured irises.”

‘Someone could be playing a joke,’ Ghost suggested.

“That would be low and would mean I don’t who the person who sent this,” Alysanne replied, stopping before sitting down. “Better the enemy you know, then the one you don’t; it’s also unlikely that two people are using the name _Mors_.”

Alysanne didn’t know what she was going to do, if there was anything she could do at all. Couldn’t go to the police, they might have been fine with her last night in front of Elena and her brothers, but that didn’t mean they would help her with this.

It also meant she would have to tell them her name and _no thanks_. Alysanne wanted _no one _to know she was Artemis. That she was the person the papers nicknamed Artemis and the Huntress, and unlike Mors.

She knew she wasn’t the Goddess by any means. For starters; Artemis was a twin and she was an only child. Her parents had been _married _to _each other _for ten years before she had been born, her mum had told her that she had been a miracle baby.

But she had a feeling that Mors might not see that. _The old gods had been reborn_, did that mean more than the Greek Gods? Did that mean Native American? Hawaiian? African? European? Asian? The old gods of the pacific? Middle East?

“Someone is playing a horrid joke, or they’re mentally aren’t all there,” Alysanne whispered to herself; it was a horrible joke. One that made her confused; on one hand she wanted to grab her bow and arrow, hunt them down and make them wish they hadn’t tried messing with her sanity in the first place.

And on the other, she wanted them to get the help _they _needed. Was it right to kill someone who was trying to get help in the only way they knew how? Could she turn her eyes away from someone who needed help?

“A horrible, horrible joke,” Alysanne whispered.

‘Just read it,’ Nymeria told her.

“I should burn the damn thing,” Alysanne told them, picking it up by the corner and glaring at it as she leaned back in her chair. Putting it to the side as she looked at her laptop, she should look up more information about underworld myths; the similar stories that had appeared around the world and humanity’s curiosity about what happened to them after they died. “I have homework to do anyway.”

The underworld was only really in myths when someone _broke into the underworld_, which was normal in Greek Myths, but appeared in Japanese and even appeared in Assyrian or Babylonian mythology.

Through she found just typing in _underworld mythology _brought up mostly Greek Myths, but Alysanne could put that down to mainly _researching _Greek Myths in trying to understand Mors and why he had named himself after the God of _Gentle Deaths_, it was the _Erinyes _that were known for violent deaths or there was a God or Goddess that Google wasn’t bringing up for one reason or another.

Mors, that _damn letter from Mors_. That was going to drive her up the wall, she might as well feed Ghost and Nymeria before she punched a hole in the wall; which was a sign that she needed therapy more than she thought she did.

Not that she could tell anyone the _reason _behind going; once something was written down or saved onto a computer meant someone else might see it and that would put _her _life in danger along with her father’s and her partners.

“I should burn the damn thing,” Alysanne said as she looked at it, pinching her nose as she looked at her partners eating their cow tongue. It was a gross thing to touch, but something that they enjoyed when she found it. “Curiosity really did kill the cat.”

‘And satisfaction brought it back,’ Ghost told her after finishing his cow tongue.

“And if I’m not satisfied?” Alysanne asked him.

‘Then you’re dead,’ Nymeria told her. 

“I’ll open it,” Alysanne told them, before opening it and blinked when she spotted the edge of photos. Taking them out she ignored the letter, but the photos made her blood boil as she looked at them.

There were pictures of _children _in _cages_, someone had sent her photos of a _human trafficking ring _and her danger sense hadn’t picked up on it. Meaning that they were outside of the city and her range, she couldn’t keep the photos and Alysanne knew that they could put her prison and she was annoyed that they weren’t going to be easy to burn.

It was earlier than she would leave, but there was nothing she could do without a location, even if she knew how many guards there were and how many adults were walking around _cages _in the middle of the day. This was the reason they needed more people looking in the forest for this thing, these children were going to suffer and Alysanne didn’t think many people would care about stopping this from happening in the first place.

“Okay, Alys, there’s a letter,” Alysanne whispered to herself as she put the photos on the table and picking up a piece of paper that looked like a hand-drawn map; she still couldn’t tell _where _it was and that annoyed her to no end.

Why tell her about something and not give her a location? Why would they give _her _this information and not the police? Lastly, the last thing had given her a location and warned her that they would be moving in the morning and they would be going to an unknown location.

“I’ll need to burn all of these; don’t think the police are going to care that I never wanted them,” she said, she couldn’t be caught. Artemis couldn’t be caught; she was a vigilante and not a hero.

She wasn’t Tribe or Captain Justice. Did Alysanne think she was above the law? Nope, she didn’t kill everyone that broke the law; human traffickers were among the people that she didn’t care if she was sent to jail for killing; along with anyone who tried to harm children for no good reason.

There was a difference between abuse and punishment.

“Don’t think Mors care if I get caught,” Alysanne muttered, and it was _Mors_ that had sent her this for whatever reason. The writing on the back was solid proof of that: _Artemis; protector of the wild, maidens and small children_.

‘What are they?’ Ghost asked her.

“Photos, locations and a map of a human trafficking ring just outside of town,” Alysanne told them as she looked at the time; it would be too light if she went now. “Artemis is going to be busy tonight, but first _food. _Don’t need anyone fainting on me.”

‘Captain Justice? Tribe?’ Ghost asked her.

“Children are more important, won’t get any sleep otherwise,” Alysanne told them pinching her nose and looking at them. “I need time to study the map anyway, and I need to also eat. Maybe having a burner phone won’t be a _horrid _idea.”

‘Forest?’ Nymeria asked.

“Forest,” Alysanne agreed. “It has to be tonight, they’ll be moving everyone in the morning and according to the note Mors left, they’re not like him and aren’t trained in the art of dodging arrows or birds.”

‘And they don’t know we’re coming,’ Ghost added.

“And they shouldn’t know we’re coming,” Alysanne agreed looking at the pictures then at the old-fashioned fireplace. She could maybe hit them under the wood until winter, there wasn’t any reasons for the police to come to her house before that and no reason for them to come even after she had burnt the pictures.

No one would look at her; if she continued to be careful, no one would know, and she would be left alone to continue. The forest would be left to bury the memories of what happened, bury things that people wouldn’t give a second thought until it appeared on the news.

She would need to keep the map and letter on her, just in case she forgot. “I should make something, pasta.”

If she was going to remove pieces of scum from the earth, then she needed to eat something; even if it meant she would be a villain in some people’s eyes but at least she’ll be able to keep a child from being harmed.

“We need a plan,” Alysanne told Nymeria and Ghost, as she boiled the kettle, grabbing the pasta and salt from the pantry. There was a chance she won’t be going to school tomorrow, since there was a high chance of being shot.

That would mean she would need to text her father before the school got hold of him; wherever he might be.

“This won’t be easy,” Alysanne continued as she leaned against the countertop; maybe she could ask the wolves or bears to go in first? Maybe even rats, the man were bound to have food for them to steal and there was a cliff in the area that she could take shots from.

At least with this group, she knew what their end goal _was _and that was more than she could say about Mors. Somehow she doubted she would ever know Mors end goal or what he was aiming for, unless he did the _normal _villain thing and monologued his entire plan; either to make fun on how stupid she was for not picking up on things he thought were _obvious_.

“Mors isn’t going to die,” Alysanne stated, her hands on her hips as she eyed her pot and then her partners.

‘Nope,’ Ghost replied.

‘We can try,’ Nymeria told her.

“That we can, even if what he told me make _no sense_,” Alysanne said narrowing her eyes towards the kitchen window. “Anyway, eyes on the prize for now and I’ll need to track down one of my old phones, don’t need a sim card to call the police; they won’t be able to track it if I destroy it.”

Those phones would be in her bedroom, the ones that would take several trucks to destroy them and where she could drop them without the screen breaking. It would be perfect to put into her Artemis outfit.

“We’ll leave early, go through the forest to avoid Tribe and Captain Justice,” Alysanne told them, looking at the map still on the table. They would wait, if they were pissed off about it, then that said more about them than it said about her.

Alysanne didn’t even know if they would allow her to explain, or if she would be out for a few days and then return. For the children, she knew it had to be done, Alysanne didn’t want a child to be forced into the sex ring and be scared by paedophiles or people from people who didn’t care that they didn’t want to be there.


End file.
